On the afternoon of January 15, Zhang Yichen, chairman and CEO of Citic Capital, revealed at the Asian Financial Forum that the United States did not allow Citic Capital to continue to use its original name after acquiring McDonald's Corp, so he called "McDonald's Corp" in a fit of anger.
During a discussion session at the Asian Financial Forum, Zhang Yichen said of last year's McDonald's Corp renaming "McDonald's Corp" that it was "the most sensational marketing on the Internet in 2017", but "it wasn't meant to be marketing at all".
"I originally wanted to use another name, but McDonald's Corp wouldn't let me use it. I was called McDonald's Corp in a fit of anger. finally, the news about this was read 9 billion times on the Internet, and the average Chinese saw six various articles about changing the name. can this marketing effort be found elsewhere in the world? This shows that the potential of consumption is huge. "Zhang Yichen said bluntly.
In November last year, Zhang Jiayin, CEO of McDonald's Corp China, explained in an interview with the media that although the McDonald's Corp brand remained unchanged after Citic and Carlyle took ownership of McDonald's Corp in August this year, McDonald's Corp America changed from a major shareholder to a minority shareholder. McDonald's Corp China has become a franchisee, and trademarks can continue to be used, but in the franchise market, it is an international practice for business licenses to use different names, so from a legal point of view. It also needs to be renamed.
As for why it was changed to "McDonald's Corp", Zhang Jiayin said that because the image design of the McDonald's Corp logo, like two golden arches, the company has been using the nickname Golden Arches (literally translated as "golden arch"), and the registered name of the Brazilian company McDonald's Corp is also the Portuguese "golden arch", so the Chinese company chose the Chinese translation "McDonald's Corp" when it decided to change its name.
McDonald's Corp (China) Co., Ltd. officially changed its name to McDonald's Corp (China) Co., Ltd. on October 12, 2017, and its local branches are also changing their names one after another, thepaper.cn reported earlier.
In response, McDonald's Corp said: "this change is mainly at the license level, the daily business will not be affected" and "McDonald's Corp restaurant name, food safety standards, business processes remain unchanged."
According to industrial and commercial information data, the investor name of McDonald's Corp (China) Co., Ltd. changed from "McDonald's Corp China Management Co., Ltd." to "McDonald's Corp China Management Co., Ltd." on August 24 last year. On October 12th, the name of the company was changed to "McDonald's Corp (China) Co., Ltd.".
McDonald's Corp (NYSE: MCD) announced the formal completion of its strategic cooperation with CITIC Limited (00267.HK), CITIC Capital and Carlyle Investment Group for McDonald's Corp's business in China.
The newly established McDonald's Corp China will operate and manage McDonald's Corp's business in mainland China and Hong Kong, accelerate its expansion, open 2000 more stores within five years, increase the coverage of third-and fourth-tier cities by 10%, and the new company has no plans to go public for the time being.
After the acquisition, CITIC Limited and Citic Capital will hold a total of 52 per cent of the new company, with Carlyle and McDonald's Corp (Global) holding 28 per cent and 20 per cent respectively. According to a joint statement by CITIC Limited, Carlyle Investment Group and McDonald's Corp on January 9 last year, the purchase price at that time was as high as 2.08 billion US dollars.RMB13.97 billion yuan) total consideration, the purchase consideration will be settled partly in cash and partly by issuing new shares of the new company to McDonald's Corp.
The board of directors of the new company will come from CITIC Limited, CITIC Capital, Carlyle and McDonald's Corp. McDonald's Corp's existing management team remains unchanged. Zhang Yichen, chairman and CEO of Citic Capital, served as chairman of the board of directors of the new company. Yang Xiangdong, managing director of Carlyle Investment Group and chairman of the Asia-Pacific region, serves as Deputy Chairman of the Board of the new company. Zhang Jiayin, former CEO of McDonald's Corp China, continues to serve as the CEO of the new McDonald's Corp China.
In an interview with the media in August last year, Zhang Yichen revealed that Citic, Carlyle and McDonald's Corp Global have four, two and one seats on the board of directors, respectively.
At that time, Zhang Jiayin proposed at the media meeting that McDonald's Corp's average annual sales growth rate in China would remain in double digits in the next five years. By the end of 2022, the number of McDonald's Corp restaurants in mainland China is expected to increase from 2500 to 4500, and the rate of opening new restaurants will gradually increase from about 250 in 2017 to about 500 in 2022. At that time, about 45 per cent of McDonald's Corp restaurants will be located in third-and fourth-tier cities, more than 75 per cent of restaurants will provide delivery services, and the coverage of "Future 2.0" restaurants, which emphasize automation and convenience, will increase to more than 90 per cent.